William Hudnut, Mayor Who Transformed Indianapolis, Is Dead at 84

William H. Hudnut III, who in his four terms as mayor of Indianapolis revitalized the city’s downtown with a focus on professional sports, died on Sunday in Chevy Chase, Md. He was 84.

His death was confirmed by Dave Arland, a former aide and family spokesman, who said the cause was heart failure.

Mr. Hudnut, a Republican, was elected mayor of Indianapolis in 1976, four years after he was elected to Congress. (He served one term in the House of Representatives but was defeated for re-election.) He would hold the office of mayor for 16 years, making him the longest-serving chief executive in the city’s history.

Indianapolis was transformed during the Hudnut years from a sleepy Midwestern town into what the current mayor, Joe Hogsett, in a statement released on Sunday, called a “world-class city.”

“Mayor Hudnut was ahead of his time, helping to turn, as he often said, ‘India-NO-place’ into ‘India-SHOW-place,’” Mr. Hogsett said.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence, the current governor of Indiana, agreed, saying in a statement that Mr. Hudnut’s “faith, leadership and boundless enthusiasm” had “transformed” the city.

Much of that change was powered by a focus on professional sports. The city began construction on the Hoosier Dome stadium in 1982, even though it had no guarantee that a professional football team would be based there. Mr. Hudnut led efforts to bring the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis, and the team relocated in time for the stadium’s completion in 1984. It was renamed the RCA Dome in 1994.

Mr. Hudnut also expanded the city’s convention center and created the Indiana Sports Corporation, which has brought major sporting events to the city, including the 1982 National Sports Festival, the 1987 Pan-American Games and the 1991 World Gymnastics Championships. Today, Indianapolis is a center for gymnastics and home of the sport’s governing body.

More than $4 billion was committed to urban development during Mr. Hudnut’s tenure as mayor, according to a biography posted on the website of Hudnut Commons, a plaza in downtown Indianapolis that was dedicated to him by one of his successors as mayor, Greg Ballard, in 2013.

“The vision I have for Indianapolis is a city that is both economically competitive and compassionate toward urban and human problems,” Mr. Hudnut said during his last term.

He left office in 1991 and moved to the Washington area. He was later elected to the town council in Chevy Chase and eventually served as the city’s mayor.

He worked for several Washington think tanks and consulting firms, including the Urban Land Institute and the Bose Public Affairs Group, and served as an adviser to Georgetown University. He was also on the board of the National League of Cities.

William Herbert Hudnut III was born on Oct. 17, 1932, in Cincinnati to William H. Hudnut Jr. and the former Elizabeth Allen Kilborne. Both his father and grandfather were Presbyterian ministers, and after graduating from Princeton University and Union Theological Seminary in New York, he was himself a Presbyterian minister in Annapolis, Md., Buffalo and Indianapolis before entering politics in 1972.

Survivors include his wife, Beverly, and four sons, Timothy, William, Theodore and Christopher.

Mr. Hudnut had a number of serious health problems in recent years, said Mr. Arland, the family spokesman. A longstanding heart ailment worsened roughly a year and a half ago, he said, and Mr. Hudnut was given six months to live.

He used his remaining time to write a final message reflecting on his time in public life that he wanted released after his death. It was posted on Sunday on the Hudnut Commons website.

“It has often been remarked that life is a journey, not a destination,” Mr. Hudnut wrote. “About the journey, it’s been a wonderful trip. As I have said many times, I hope my epitaph will read: ‘He built well and he cared about people.’”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: William Hudnut, 84, Mayor Who Built Up Indianapolis. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe